The Glen
Legend
I was converting the Mystara setting to 5th and I got people asking me to shoehorn in Tieflings, Dragonborn, Drow, Half-Orcs, Half-Elves, and other races that were not found in the original setting. It is a fairly unique setting that had its own races not found outside of Mystara. I was trying to explain to people that the non-canon races were staying out, I wasn't going to add them just because the Forgotten Realms had them. Then I found the one line in the PHB that explained it better than I ever could.
"The Dragonborn and the rest of the races in this chapter are uncommon. They don't exist in every world of D&D, and even where they are found, they are less widespread than dwarves, elves, halflings, and humans."
What you leave out of a setting is just as important as what you leave in. Dragonlance famously ditched halflings for Kender and was drow and orc free (with a few continuity errors). Birthright also ditched orcs. Dark Sun committed genocide on a scale none of the other settings can even dream of matching. Ravenloft retconned out its drow (for licensing reasons). These omissions didn't lower the quality of any of the settings.
Strategic removal of races can make for some fantastic settings. For the MTG crowd, Llorwyn had no humans, and Innistrad had nothing but humans. If you only allow elves, nagpa, halflings and aranea you get Dark Crystal. Tieflings, goblins, humans, and dwarves give you Legend. Lupin, goblins, sidhe, and whatever those fire guys were makeup Labyrinth. If you take humans, orcs, Cirque du Soleil lesbian hippie amazons and no talent for film making whatsoever, and you get Dungeon Siege: In the Name of the King. You don't have to add everything to every setting, sometimes less is much more.
"The Dragonborn and the rest of the races in this chapter are uncommon. They don't exist in every world of D&D, and even where they are found, they are less widespread than dwarves, elves, halflings, and humans."
What you leave out of a setting is just as important as what you leave in. Dragonlance famously ditched halflings for Kender and was drow and orc free (with a few continuity errors). Birthright also ditched orcs. Dark Sun committed genocide on a scale none of the other settings can even dream of matching. Ravenloft retconned out its drow (for licensing reasons). These omissions didn't lower the quality of any of the settings.
Strategic removal of races can make for some fantastic settings. For the MTG crowd, Llorwyn had no humans, and Innistrad had nothing but humans. If you only allow elves, nagpa, halflings and aranea you get Dark Crystal. Tieflings, goblins, humans, and dwarves give you Legend. Lupin, goblins, sidhe, and whatever those fire guys were makeup Labyrinth. If you take humans, orcs, Cirque du Soleil lesbian hippie amazons and no talent for film making whatsoever, and you get Dungeon Siege: In the Name of the King. You don't have to add everything to every setting, sometimes less is much more.